Open AccessThe Blues-like Elements in John Edgar Wideman’s Sent for You Yesterday
Author(s) -
Qiong Zhang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics and english literature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2200-3592
pISSN - 2200-3452
DOI - 10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.8n.4p.100
Subject(s) - blues , yesterday , beauty , symbol (formal) , narrative , art , art history , literature , aesthetics , history , philosophy , linguistics , physics , astronomy
Sent for You Yesterday, having won P.E.N./Faulkner Award as the best work of fiction, is considered to be Wideman’s blues novel in American literary circle. The blues-like elements in this novel is mainly in form. Firstly, the title of the novel is adapted from a piece of blues; secondly, the whole structure of the story is arranged according to the blues; thirdly, the special narration in the novel forms a kind of call-and –response. The blues-like elements in this novel is also in content: the black community is immerged in blues environment and blues is considered as the cultural symbol of African Americans and three generation inherited the cultural heritage by blues. By blues, Wideman combines the black aesthetics and daily life and strengthens the artistic beauty.